FOC Operations in North East England

[dan4291]

Just wondering if anyone can list the freight flows by all FOCs in North East England, including destinations, routes taken, traction and cargo. Thanks

Edited to ask about freight flows by all companies in North East England.

 

[marsker]

Most Freightliner work on Teesside is the traffic to/from Boulby potash mine, this runs either to Tees Dock near Grangetown or to a terminal on the western edge of Middlesbrough. There is also a daily container service from Teesport to Felixtowe and another, which doesn't run as regularly, to Leeds. Additionaly, they operate occasional bulk freight out of Redcar bulk terminal, though it seems less than they did.
I can't say about services they operate on Tyneside.

 

[palmersears]

You may get a few engineering trains in addition, but the Boulby traffic and the Felixstowe intermodal are the only regular runners, as marsker has noted. There's not a massive Freightliner presence in the North East, it's mainly DB Cargo and GB Railfreight.

 

[Class 170101]

Just wondering if anyone knows what routes Freightliner run in and around North East England. Was looking on their website earlier and noticed they have train crew depots in Teesport and Tyne Yard, and also Carlisle over in the North West, and was just wondering what routes and type of freight they work from those locations. Thanks.

Carlisle would surely be Intermodal on the WCML?

 

[dan4291]

Thanks all. I've changed the first post and title of the thread to ask about all freight flows by all FOCs in North East England (not just Freightliner as per the original thread title), so do add more replies to that regard! Thanks.

 

[Geeves]

Couple from a little further North in the Ashington and Blyth areas

Tyne dock to Lynemouth Power station GBRF daily
North Blyth to Fort William ALCAN GBRF weekly
Tees Yard to North Blyth GBRF runs as required
Doncaster to North Blyth GBRF runs as required
North Blyth to West Burton GBRF PS runs as required

Couple of other bits and bobs on the mainline but not much exciting

Torness PS - Sellafield DRS runs aa required
Tess Yard - Oxwellmains GBRF daily.

 

[marsker]

There are various flows around Teesside,
DB operate intermodal trains to Mossend from Teesport, trains of steel slab from Scunthorpe to both Lackenby and Skinningrove (I believe these operate as a single train to Tees Yard and then the Skinningrove portion is taken forward separately, but I might be mistaken, steel from South Wales to Hartlepool Pipe Mill and trains of waste from Knowsley to a power station at Wilton. Additionally, there are occasional bulk flows from Tees bulk terminal and petroleum traffic between Immingham and Jarrow, which may run either via the East Coast main line, or via Ferryhill - Stockton - Northallerton.
GBRf operate intermodal trains from Teesport to Doncaster iPort, timetabled for twice daily, though coronavirus may have reduced these at the moment, they also haul bulk loads from Redcar to various points south and biomass from Port of Tyne to Drax power station, which is routed via the Durham coast and Eaglescliffe to Northallerton.
DRS has a daily intermodal train from Daventry to Teesport and last autumn, they also operated the rail head treatment train in the area.
This is in addition to the Freightliner flows mentioned earlier, I don't think I've mentioned everything, but it should give you a good idea.

 

[HowardGWR]

If these services are often infrequent and irregular, do the drivers get loaned out to TOCs (or rival FOCs !). Otherwise it could be a very inefficient use of staffing.

 

[ScottDarg]

Couple from a little further North in the Ashington and Blyth areas

Tyne dock to Lynemouth Power station GBRF daily
North Blyth to Fort William ALCAN GBRF weekly
Tees Yard to North Blyth GBRF runs as required
Doncaster to North Blyth GBRF runs as required
North Blyth to West Burton GBRF PS runs as required

Couple of other bits and bobs on the mainline but not much exciting

Torness PS - Sellafield DRS runs aa required
Tess Yard - Oxwellmains GBRF daily.

Quick correction to a couple of those running into Scotland;

North Blyth to Fort William is technically a daily service in that it runs North one day then South the next. It does this every day except Sundays (in normal times at least. No idea what the current COVID frequency is)

There is no Tees Yard to Oxwellmains flow. Colas are the only operator to work out of Oxwellmains and the only traffic they have running from there to a North East terminal is Seaham.

Others that run through the North East not mentioned by other posters:

1. 2 Tees Dock to Mossend/Grangemouth and return workings - DB Cargo Intermodal - Both run most days a week with the exception of a Sunday - Hauled by Class 66's
2. Doncaster to Millerhill and returm - Colas Rail departmental working for Network Rail - Runs most days a week - Traction varies between Class 70s and Class 56s
3. Grangemouth to Sinfin Sidings - Colas Rail transporting petroleum - Frequency to be determined as it's only just restarted, but should run Sunday nights - Traction also to be confirmed, though it was a Class 56 last week
4. Tees Yard to Dalzell - DB Cargo Steel - Normally runs once per week (typically Wednesday) - Class 66

That's pretty much it for traffic running into Scotland at least.

 

[Andyjs247]

Out of interest is any of that freight booked to be hauled electrically? eg Class 88 or 92.

 

[DarloRich]

Out of interest is any of that freight booked to be hauled electrically? eg Class 88 or 92.

not in the north east as far as I am aware ( if we exclude any RM units working to Low Fell)

 

[Mollman]

Out of interest is any of that freight booked to be hauled electrically? eg Class 88 or 92.

The Doncaster - Millerhill was an 88 for a while when DRS ran it. Most electric haulage recently has been diverted WCML traffic.

 

[dan4291]

The mail train still runs up the ECML doesn't it, using 325s?

 

[ainsworth74]

The mail train still runs up the ECML doesn't it, using 325s?

Yes I've seen it several times. Very distinctive in the dark as it usually has all its blue bodyside lights illuminated!